


home of the mighty

by PenelopeJadewing



Series: We'll Set the World to Rights [3]
Category: Naruto, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Banter, Best Friends, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Cute Kids, Fix-It of Sorts, Friendship, Gen, gonna get that bread, if sasuke is izuku's boost of self-esteem, pass the entrance exams, then izuku is sasuke's walking conscience
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2019-10-21 10:02:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17640665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PenelopeJadewing/pseuds/PenelopeJadewing
Summary: After all their hard work, it's finally come down to this. It's their time now. Sasuke knows he's at a disadvantage, but nowhere near Izuku's, so he can't bring himself to complain. Still, they're both here to win. No matter what happens, they've worked too hard to fail now. Screw the admittance rate, Sasuke and Izuku are going to get into U.A. High no matter what.Now if only Bakugou would keep his stupid face far, far away...





	1. gathering flock

**Author's Note:**

> HELLO I'M NOT DEAD  
> so like, it was a weird holiday season?? I got a new job. and my half-sister came to visit and has ended up staying like way longer than she planned so she kinda lives with us now, which is kinda really awesome? but also it's meant I haven't had a lot of time to really get as much stuff done oof. 
> 
> Still shooting for it though! I was able to get this done. Just gotta chip at it one chapter at a time. T u T
> 
> Just as a quick note, this oneshot takes place just before No Worries, We Still Have Time and makes a very slight reference to I Heard Enough, This Ends Now.
> 
> -P.J.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So Izuku got to meet All Might. That's pretty cool. A long time ago, Sasuke would've been more excited by the idea, but even if he's not now, he's happy enough for his friend. Though Izuku is being weirdly cagey about it... Before Sasuke can ask any more questions though, that One Guy shows up and things sort of derail from there.

“Are you going to explain?” Sasuke mutters aside to his small companion as they trudge, equally backpack-laden, up the final stretch of tree-lined street leading up to their hallowed destination. He keeps his tone unimpressed but sharp—his specialty, crafted to simultaneously intimidate and obligate this particular person, the object of his mild exasperation. “Or are you going to make me ask?”

The trip from their neighborhood to U.A. isn’t all that bad. It’s a decently quaint, scenic route, and it’s taken just long enough for a proper conversation along the way. And it’s been a few days since their last proper conversation.

Izuku, actually, hasn’t really been consistently in touch since the whole ‘sludge monster’ incident. And that was an incident Sasuke had to learn about that on the news right after it happened. Which he still isn’t happy about. Watching his Quirkless friend race into the camera frame from the helicopter view had admittedly been both exhilarating and terrifying, which Sasuke had already explained at this point—twice. On one hand, it was incredibly brave and just what he’s come to expect from his best friend. On the other hand, it was incredibly _stupid_. And for Bakugou? Please.

This all happened ten months ago.

All things considered, it’s not like Sasuke can really blame Izuku. What with grad prep, final exams, taking all the necessary preparations leading up to today of all days, they and all of their classmates have been running themselves ragged. Sasuke’s been working hard to develop special equipment and filling out paperwork specially for today, and he knows Izuku’s been working out quite a bit, which heaven knows he’ll need in just a few short hours. But this thinning of their usual time spent together isn’t the problem, even if they do live on the same street. No, no, this inquiry is for a different purpose entirely.

And now that most of their regular chitchat is out of the way, Sasuke has _questions_. After all, it’s not every day one finds one’s best friend leaving a beach from which one witnesses the most famous Hero of all time launching away.

If Izuku had known All Might was there, Sasuke has no doubt in his mind that the little fanboy would’ve been rocketing toward the waterfront. So he wants to know why Izuku had instead been walking _away_ —as if his idol wasn’t right behind him a second earlier. Which only meant Izuku already knew—and had seemingly had direct contact for the first time in his life.

Sasuke wants to know how it went.

Now, Izuku blinks at his abrupt questions, and then has the gall to give him a blankly inquisitive stare. “Uh, I’m not sure what—”

“All Might,” Sasuke interrupts via explanation. “You met him on that beach. You were almost late because of it.”

All at once, Izuku breaks out in a sudden bout of Anxiety, as he is apt to do when he’s put on the spot. Which… is incredibly easy to do. It usually doesn’t happen with Sasuke, though, so that’s odd… “ _W-Whaaat?_ I—”

“Tch, that wasn’t an accusation,” Sasuke snorts. “Relax.”

“I-I knew that… Um…” Izuku struggles to formulate a response, by the way he bites his lower lip and fiddles with his bangs between his fingers. “Y-Yeah. I was… jogging. And happened upon him… cleaning up trash. I got to say ‘hi’…”

Sasuke eyes him sidelong. That’s quite the faltering response, and he’s not sure he understands why… Then again, no matter how long Sasuke’s known him, Izuku seems incredibly embarrassed of his devotion to the Number One Hero. Maybe that’s it. “Hmm. That’s cool.”

“Uh-huh, yeah, it was!” The anxiety lingers just long enough to make Izuku watch his sneakers for three more steps, before his expression softens. The nerves simmer down, leaving that same old admiration behind in its wake. Which suits him much better, to be honest. “He really is amazing, you know?”

“You’d know better than me. I’ve never met him.”

Which is true. Sasuke’s been to several rallies and speeches, but he’s never gotten to interact with All Might directly. Which… used to bother him, a long time ago. When he was much smaller, younger… more innocent? He’s not sure. In any case, it’s not quite so disappointing to him now. What would he say? ‘Hello, nice to meet you, please sign my backpack’ and then it’d be over and he would probably never talk to the Hero again. Is he truly missing out on that much?

Beside him, Izuku seems to shrink again, ducking his head against his uniform collar. After all, he’s met All Might in person twice, now. “Right. S-Sorry…”

Sasuke sighs. “You’re apologizing again.”

“Ah! Sor—”

“Midoriya.”

“…th-thank you for your patience?”

“…hn. Better, I guess.”

A sort-of comfortable silence falls between them, filled only by the clip of their shoes on the cold pavement. Theirs, and others too; the street is filling up with people of all shapes, sizes, colors. Some with horns, hair in ungodly colors, tails, wings, name it and they’re there. And despite their diversity, Sasuke knows exactly what they’re all here for.

“So, did you get your tinkering done last night?” Izuku breaks the quietness, at which Sasuke tears his eyes away from the growing crowd of competition and settles his gaze on his friend’s inquisitive face.

“Of course I did. I didn’t have a choice. There’s no way I could come here today without something.” Sasuke lets out a quiet huff of disgruntlement. This is something he’s known for years, but in no way has that time made the fact any easier to put up with. Having a combat-based Quirk would make things so much easier…

Then again, who is he to complain? Izuku has nothing. Just remembering that makes a dagger of guilt twist in Sasuke’s insides.

Unaware of his inner chagrin, Izuku’s expression lights up like Kyoto Tower, a beaming grin somehow doing nothing to narrow his wide, starry eyes. Sasuke resists the urge to indulge in a dramatic eyeroll. _You’re such a dork, Izuku, you really are…_

“What’d you end up bringing!?” Izuku asks, overflowing with puppy-level eagerness as he grips his backpack straps in anticipation. “The gloves?”

“H*** no, those are nowhere near ready.” Granted, Sasuke is wearing gloves now, so he can see how that might be misleading. They’re nothing special though. He holds one hand up in front of his face, examining it and envisioning the gloves Izuku’s referring to. He’s working on what he calls taser gloves. He got the idea from one of their middle school teachers, Mr. Hatake, and his lightning Quirk. Since Sasuke’s Quirk offers him no offensive advantage, something like that could grant him at least a little attack power.

“These are just insulators for when I use my stunner,” he explains, turning his hand over before dropping it back to his side. “I haven’t been able to get the real gloves working yet. They’re complicated.”

Izuku’s smile softens if only a little, fonder now than eager. “I know you’ll figure it out in no time, though. You’re so smart—like, way smarter than me…”

“You’re still underestimating yourself,” Sasuke sighs. “But yeah, I’ll figure it out. I always do.”

That said, he is only fourteen. He’s been called a genius in the classroom, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to tech or invention. He’s acutely aware of how far he has yet to go… which means those gloves will take some time to develop further. Lots of time… Until then, he has to settle for less practical means of evening the odds.

“O-Oh my gosh, here we are…” Izuku’s voice is suddenly trembling, at the very same moment they come to the crest of the hill.

There, before them, looms the shining gateway to greatness. An archway of steel, emblazoned with the school crest, gives way to a broad walkway paved in neat rows of rust-red brick, lined with concrete columns and smattered with the dozens of Hero hopefuls who dare to trod where legends were made. Beyond a pillared porch and three numbered doors at the top of the front staircase, a colossus of a building pierces the sky with four mighty towers, gleaming glass faces throwing beams of sunlight overhead. Those beams flash over the schoolyard and beyond to the city the school overlooks like a fortress over its estate—a beacon of justice, safety and peace. A castle dedicated to bringing up the knights who will defend the world’s future.

“U.A. High,” both boys murmur in perfect unison, breaths of pure wonder. In Izuku’s case, it’s tainted with a thread of that same old anxiety—unwarranted, in Sasuke’s opinion. In the case of Sasuke himself, the syllables do much to harden his simmering resolve. He clenches his fingers into fists.

There’s only one acceptable outcome today. He didn’t come all this way to lose. Too much is at stake.

Glowing red eyes flash across the forefront of his mind and he squints his own eyes shut to try and ward them away. _Not now… not today._

“Stupid Deku.”

Sasuke’s eyes snap open again. His feet stop in their path. “Oh great. The person no one wants to deal with today.”

Izuku, stopping a few steps ahead of Sasuke, does the stupid thing and looks behind him, almost like he wants to validate the person’s approach. “Kacchan?”

Bakugou answers in typical fashion. “Get out of my way now, before I set you on fire.”

Before Izuku can launch himself into a tirade of anxious apologetics, as he very much is about to do judging by the sweat on his forehead and the tremor in his eyes, Sasuke speaks up so his mutual pain-in-the-rear end can hear him—without deigning the explosion boy by looking at him, of course. “Please do. Then you can spend today in jail while the rest of us get into U.A.”

Izuku, for the moment, is lost in nervous tittering. Meanwhile, Bakugou clicks his tongue and, to his credit, doesn’t fly off the handle like usual. Perhaps he is capable of prioritizing when necessary. “Whatever, just stay outta my way, Useless, and pray we don’t end up fighting each other.”

“Yeah, that’d be pretty bad for you, wouldn’t it, _dobe_?”

To Sasuke’s amusement, that’s enough to make Bakugou halt in his steps. Two tense seconds pass, in which Bakugou’s breathing rasps heavier and heavier through his nose, like he’s trying to hold back a wind storm or something. Usually, there’s a certain nuance to human beings, a natural unpredictability. But this narcissistic idiot is so obvious about everything he’s thinking and feeling, it’s almost painful to watch. Sasuke’s seen it again and again, the huffing and puffing and then the explosion. The Big Bad Wolf with on-hand TNT.

But then, miracle of miracles… Bakugou simply starts walking again. He doesn’t even bother with a retort.

Color Sasuke impressed. If only a millimeter’s worth.

Once the human trash bag has passed beyond earshot, Izuku deflates, head hanging in either relief or shame… it’s incredibly difficult to tell. “Sasuke, you really shouldn’t antagonize him…”

“What, like he antagonizes everyone else?” Sasuke sniffs. “Compared to what he does, this is nothing. He deserves worse, but to give it to him, it would mean stooping to his level. Which I’m not about to do.”

“Hnn…” Izuku wrings his hands. “He’s… been better lately. Ever since… well, I mean. He’s kinda been taking it easy on me.”

“Izuku, he just threatened to set you on fire. That’s no better than actually doing it.”

“I-I know, but—”

“No buts. Stop giving him excuses.”

Something between a groan and a heavy sigh heaves from Izuku’s chest and he sags, shoulders hunching. “Okay, okay…” After that concession, he gives his head a good shake and stands up straight again, and Sasuke knows he’s ready to keep moving.

Izuku’s always been resilient.

The original plan, of course, is to fall in step with Izuku so they cross the school building’s threshold together as planned. Because they’re stupid kids with stupid sentiments and both of them agreed it would be cool. So Sasuke widens his strides, aiming to catch up quick. But all it takes is two seconds and two steps for Izuku to very suddenly be on his way down—having tripped on his own feet. Ready to faceplant the pavement.

Sasuke’s Quirk floods into his senses, drawing every sight, sound, smell into sharp awareness, and he lunges, even though he knows he’s just far enough behind he won’t be able to do anything. Still, might as well try to keep his friend from getting a concussion before they can even make it to the front steps.

Someone walking on Izuku’s opposite side beats him to it. She reaches for Izuku’s arm… and he just stops.

Mid-air.

“Are you okay?” she asks, giggling.

Sasuke stops too, one hand still outstretched to catch his companion, and his Quirk fades away just like that, the moment past. The world returns to normal. Except for the floating Izuku, of course. Usually, Sasuke’s the only person around and willing to keep Izuku from hurting himself.

It feels odd now, having someone else step in.

And with a pretty impressive Quirk, no less. There’s no other explanation as to why Izuku’s feet remain ten centimeters off the ground.

Compared to that ability, she’s not particularly outstanding in any way. A maroon coat, pleated skirt, black tights. Short chestnut hair frames a round face, cheeks pink with cold. When Izuku instinctively begins to flail, as most would in his position, the girl giggles some more and gently guides him back to his feet. Once that’s done, she clasps her hands together placatingly.

“I stopped you with my Quirk,” she says, confirming Sasuke’s suspicions. “I’m sorry I didn’t ask first. But I figured you wouldn’t mind me catching you!”

Sasuke observes Izuku’s face as best he can from his not-so-strategy angle. All he can really see is his ear and a bit of freckled cheek—both of which are beginning to flush.

The girl doesn’t seem to notice though. In fact, she hasn’t noticed Sasuke’s presence at all either—or at least, that Izuku’s not walking alone. There are a lot of other students around them; she probably assumed he’s just another one. Which he honestly doesn’t mind. He lowers his hand and hangs back. As long as Izuku’s fine, he’ll just wait for the interaction to pass.

Except it doesn’t. Because Izuku isn’t saying a word. Sasuke may not be able to see his face from where he’s standing, but the awkward silence speaks volumes.

“Isn’t this all like, _way_ nerve-wracking?” the girl offers by way of conversation starter, smiling but doing little to hide the anxiety in her own body-language, hands going to her backpack straps, weight leaning on her heels.

Izuku’s response consists of a sudden outburst of flailing and stammering.

_Oh, that’s smooth._

“Well,” she says, unperturbed, “guess I’ll see you inside. Bye!”

Off she scampers, leaving Izuku to wallow in more awkward silence. Other examinees pass them by, a single beat of silence passing with them before Sasuke steps alongside his friend.

“Well, that was weird,” he murmurs, watching their new acquaintance disappear through the door labeled with a giant golden number 1.

“Holy whoa,” Izuku barely dares to breathe, “I just talked to a girl!”

“But you didn’t actually say anything, hot shot.”

“H-Hot shot??” 

With a smirk, Sasuke resumes his stride to the castle front. “Come on. You can’t tell me your face isn’t burning. I’m not blind.”

“W-Wha—no, I—I mean…”

“Geez, don’t hurt yourself. Again. Now hurry up, or we’ll be late.”

“ _Sasuke_ , you can’t j-just do that and then walk away!”

“Doing it. You coming or what?”

Izuku’s harried footsteps are all he gets in answer.


	2. whatever it takes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke hates people who don't take things seriously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LIVE
> 
> hello yes, i am still alive, but life killed me for a second. Actually, between being short on the muns and working more on my other original story, Hambleton's Ice Creamery (coming soon, y'all, so watch for it), any work on fanfiction just went out the window. But things have been a biiit better this past week, and I was inspired by watching X-Men: First Class, so I finally got this chapter done! Hopefully, I'll get to work a little on the next chap for Sick Boy too, so send me them good vibes and wish me luck.
> 
> in the meantime, enjoy this next installment of Sasuke's A Jerk Sometimes!

_“They’re splitting us up so we can’t work with any of our friends.”_

Friends. Ha. That’s rich coming from him. As if Bakugou Katsuki even knows the definition of the word. Particularly when he follows that doozy of a line up with something like “I was looking forward to crushing you” and a completely straight face. Then again, Bakugou seems to imagine he knows everything there is to know about anything—or at least, anything he deems worthwhile. Everything else is just stupid, or so he says. Nitwit. To be so wrapped up in your own mindset, to think yourself the only person with all the answers… It’s a level of hubris and ineptitude unfathomable to most. An impressive achievement, in a way. Idiotic. Infuriating. Definitely in need of some major readjustment, but yes, impressive all the same.

Before he can ruminate further, a skull-rattling scrape of metal meets concrete makes Sasuke’s hair stand on end. He’s moving backwards already, without thought. In situations like this, the instinctive foresight that his Quirk offers him is invaluable. If he hadn’t been keeping it active and attuned to his surroundings ever since he entered through the main gates of the ridiculously grand-scale exam grounds, he would’ve been toast just now. The miss does little to deter the battle bot however. Which makes sense, given their purpose is to act more as an obstacle than a real enemy. They’re not programmed to accidentally harm themselves. The engineers would, of course, want any and all damage to be done by the UA hopefuls.

Eyes narrow, darting over the olive surface of the mechanical beast, Sasuke makes a few more leaps backward for good measure and pushes thoughts of Izuku’s self-proclaimed ‘childhood friend’ back, channels the lingering ire to the here and now. He can’t afford to slip. He has to find a weak spot before he commits to the risk of an attack. From the corner of his eye, he glances at his glove, then the gun at his hip. He’d invented it himself, tested it on a gauge, seen it work, but… he still doesn’t know if it has enough power output to do anything against these hunks of metal, and it isn’t worth the chance of getting hit or caught.

_Be smart about this. Think._

There’s always a chink. Even the toughest sets of armor leave gaps to be exploited. Maybe… His eyes drift to the crater in the pavement, left by the robot’s fist, littered with small fragments of metal rattled from its exoskeleton by the force of the blow. Obviously not enough to compromise the robot’s performance, but perhaps enough to utilize.

“Okay, 3-pointer,” he murmurs, clenching and unclenching his fists. “Down you go.”

He makes a dash for the crater, straight past the robot. Their reflexes are laughable to be honest. Though perhaps he’s just biased in that area… It swings a massive forearm at his head and with ease, he ducks under and keeps going. He skids past the hole in the sidewalk, snatches up a lengthy piece of scrap, and doesn’t stop. He rounds to find the robot close behind him, plants his feet, and awaits its strike.

It comes predictably, arm lashing out, intent on blunt force trauma. Sasuke watches, time slowed, until the bludgeon is mere inches away, well on track to his gut and a pretty severe stomachache. Not that it’ll ever get there. Once it’s close enough, he moves, jumps up high enough to kick even higher off the robot’s forearm. These things seem to reel in the face of their own surface area being used against them, and it offers just enough time for Sasuke to jam the scrap metal into its shoulder joint. Then he’s kicking off its arm again, gives the scrap a good hammer with his heel and launches himself back in time to see sparks rain across its drab metal skin. The arm now hangs by a thread of rubber and exposed wire.

He smirks a little. _These things aren’t so tough. Not when you can see them coming a mile away._

The robot doesn’t seem to really acknowledge its new handicap, and simply comes at him with its other arm. Dodging with ease, Sasuke twists around to its disabled side and hugs his arms around the massive metal forearm. A wrench of his spine, and the rubber and wires snap loose, leaving him with a dismembered robot arm and its previous owner rounding to face him, wheels whirring and crunching on the asphalt.

He just needs it to hit its own limb. Then he’d have more weapons to work with. When it strikes again, he raises the arm as a shield. The impact makes him skid, numbs his arms, but does little more than dent the plating he’s been eying, the armor along that monstrous forearm, shaped like the perfect shield. He sighs, and raises his eyes to once more analyze his opponent.

It’s rolling for him again, wheels rumbling, arm socket sparking once, twice. Could he jam its wheels? Make it roll over this limb, crush it so he could use the pieces? Maybe. No guarantees. No losses either. He gives a heave and launches the limb right at its wheels. It’s not an impressive throw, barely has enough force behind it to move a few meters, but that’s all he needs. It bangs off the fender and clatters down just in front of the tires. It ramps up, onto the edge… and then stalls. The wheels are too close together, and the angle of the forearm is just so that it can’t make it all the way over without trouble.

A chortle escapes him. But now what?

_The sparks. Exposed wiring. Ah… Worth a shot._

He takes out the homemade taser, ducks to its weak side and shoots without wasting a second. The coils strike just inside the empty arm socket and, with a pull of the trigger, a surge of electricity rushes to the weak point. With a shower of sparks and arcs of white light, the robot stalls, sputters, and the lights in its red eyes go dark.

All it takes is a little ingenuity and some basic electrical science. Who else here is thinking of that kind of stuff rather than just button-mashing their oh-so-superior Quirks?

With another sigh, he holsters the taser again, deactivates his Quirk just a moment, and massages his wrists. His hands still feel a little weird after that shield stunt. “That’s 36 points…”

It’s hard to even begin to guess how that compares with everyone else out here. How long as it been since the practical started? Where does he stand?

How’s Izuku doing? That’s what he really has to wonder. This is painstaking enough with a Quirk like his. He can’t even imagine the kind of clever tricks it would take to beat these things without a Quirk. It’s enough to make an instinctive furrow settle on his brow.

Izuku’s smart, though. He should… he should be okay. Pass or fail, he’ll know what the best choices are.

A shrill wail cuts through the air like a knife, ricocheting off the buildings to circle above his head. His Quirk rises to the surface of his mind in an instant and once again, the world falls into sharp clarity. He glances down the street, where more mechanical rumblings are approaching fast and under them, he can make out the sound of a single harried pair of footsteps that clack-clack like platform shoes. Who’s stupid enough to wear anything but the most comfortable and practical footwear to this thing?

His answer comes in the form of a small girl with long pink hair, rounding onto the block from several streets down and running like the hounds of Hell are after her. He vaguely recognizes her… Oh, that’s right. She was with that loser in orange and the grape-haired creep outside the gates, just before the exam started*. The red flats on her feet make her flight somewhat difficult, and she runs like she’s never done PE in her life. Behind her, four robots—three 1-pointers and a 2-pointer—come stampeding after her, observation ports gleaming with focused intent.

Sasuke frowns. Isn’t the point of this to _defeat_ the robots, not escape them? What is this girl thinking?

In her hurry and obvious exhaustion, she spots him and he internally withers at the hope that springs across her face. And here, he’d picked an empty corner far away from the main gate in hopes of _not_ dealing with anyone else. He doesn’t need the distraction or the competition.

She disregards his silent wishes, of course, and instead she opens her mouth wide and shrieks, “HELP ME!”

And he sighs again. Because he knows that if he doesn’t… he can just imagine what his mother would say. Or what Izuku would say… though that’s pretty much the same thing at this point.

Four is far too many to deal with alone though. This girl will be no help, so he’d have to combat all of them at once when they seem fairly in tune with their target by now. Getting between them would only make all of them zero in on him instead. He needs to think. So he points off toward the nearest building.

“Inside!” he snaps and, without waiting for a response, makes a beeline for the plain little false storefront. The small spaces and many walls within a building is their best chance to provide a bit of distance.

He hears her behind him when he enters the lobby of the building. He also hears the robots in hot pursuit. If they bust into the main floor, that’s fine; all they need to do is get upstairs. Preferably two floors up. He makes a dash for the staircase, which he finds behind the main lobby area just as the building shakes and behind them, glass shatters. The girl shrieks again.

“Shhh!” he hisses, sprinting up the stairs two at a time. “We’re trying to lose them.”

She whimpers, but says nothing, and he doesn’t spare her a glance to ensure she’s still following. He doesn’t need to. As long as he can hear her footsteps, the clack-clack of her shoes, he can tell where she is and how close. Actually, it’s a bit too easy…

“Lose the shoes,” he says, bypassing the door to the second floor and rounding to the second flight of stairs. “They’re too loud and you’re too slow.”

“But—” she starts to object, and he doesn’t have time for an argument.

“Do it!”

Another whine escapes her, and her steps slow to a painful crawl for three seconds. When her steps start up again, the obnoxious, air-piercing clack is gone, replaced by the soft patter of bare foot on linoleum.

The second floor is made up of a bunch of phony offices, and Sasuke navigates through them to find the side of the building facing the street. He needs a good view of where they’ve just been, and of their pursuers. If they truly have given up, like Sasuke thinks they will without an active target in their sites, they’ll return to the street.

He finds an office with a broad window and peers down, two stories below. Sure enough, just below, the three 1-pointers rumble around in listless circles. Their programming should only have them search for lost quarry for a minute or two before they’ll be free to get out again. The 2-pointer must’ve been the one that broke into the lobby; its protocol should work the same way.

The girl comes up behind him, breathing far heavier than any potential hero student has any right to, and slouches against the window. “We can’t… can’t stop. It’s coming—”

“No it isn’t.”

“Yes! It is, didn’t you—?”

He tries his best not to let his annoyance show. He just got her out of a jam, she followed willingly, and _now_ she’s going to question his judgment? He shoots her a critical glance. “Of course I heard it. Didn’t you pay attention at all during the introduction?”

Her teal eyes, wider now that she’s not sprinting for her life in direct sunlight, blink once, twice, and her features open with raw confusion. “What does that have to do with—”

“This exam is setup like a video game. If you get noticed by an enemy in a game, you can just hide for a while and they forget about you.”

“Um… I… I don’t play a lot of games…”

Ah. That explains a little. And also means he can’t hold as much against her, which makes him pinch the bridge of his nose just to hold back another sigh. At this rate, he’ll make himself light-headed. “Well, that’s how these work too. I figured that much out in the first five minutes. If we wait here a minute or so, they’ll go back to their regular patrolling. They’ll forget we’re even here.”

“Oh…” She glances out the window herself, eyes the bots on the street, and all the tension whooshes out of her. “Oh good…”

“That would depend.” He gives her another critical stare. “Don’t you need the points?”

In an instant, the tension is back, and she avoids returning his gaze, and that alone is enough to confirm his suspicions. “Uh, well…”

“How many points do you have?”

“I-I… It’s been hard to keep track…”

“Not nearly enough, then.” His frown deepens. “Why are you running instead of fighting? If you’re not here to get in, why waste everyone’s time?”

At that, it’s her turn to frown and she faces him with an anxious sort of defensiveness. Kinda like Izuku does sometimes. “Of course I’m here to get in! Why else—”

“Because somebody told you to,” he deadpans. And that’s just one of many stupid reasons anyone might try this exam without their hearts being truly in it. “Or maybe you’re intentionally shooting to get into Gen. Ed, but wanted to be able to say you tried for the Hero Course.”

“I… I wouldn’t do that! You don’t know anything about me, so who do you think you are?” Her face is red, flustered. Defensive. He’s got something right. What it is, he can’t be sure, but it’s enough to make his lip curl.

He clicks his tongue. “I’m someone who’s taking this seriously, and I just wasted my time saving your sorry a** from a bunch of bots I could’ve taken out myself. Every point, every minute counts for someone like me. Like I said, you’re wasting my time if you’re not even here to try.”

“I am trying!” she defends, and glances out the window once more. The 2-pointer has returned to the street, and the four bots settle into a more relaxed, roaming sort of movement pattern. They’ve forgotten by now. “I just… I don’t like fighting is all.”

A harsh, humorless laugh escapes him. He can’t believe she just said that. “Then you picked the wrong school to try out for. Do everyone a favor: stay here until the buzzer. Stay out of our way and leave the points to those who want them.”

He’s wasted enough time now. The crestfallen look on her face is well-deserved; UA isn’t for kids who are here to play around. Perspective is necessary. Ambition, a prerequisite. If she can’t take the heat, better for her to give up now until she can reevaluate her motives. He knows nothing about her, but he does know one thing: true heroes don’t run away.

 _In the dark of midnight, glowing red eyes disappear from an open window into the shadows._ Sasuke shakes away the memory. No, he doesn’t need that… he never needs that. He has things to do; can’t his stupid brain leave him alone to focus? He turns before she can notice his distraction and, without a glance back, leaves her and her cowardice and her little office hideaway behind. Honestly, he shouldn’t have bothered.

He’s here for one reason. Just one. He _has_ to get in. He has to, so he can learn how to be a Hero. So that one day… he can face those red eyes again, next time without fear.

This is the only way. That’s why he’s here, that’s his reason, his drive. Could that girl even remotely understand what that feels like? No. Not a chance.

He slips out of the building and returns to the street, activating his Quirk so he can detect the robots’ movements. One of the single-pointers is closest, and he’s just starting to formulate a plan of attack when a rapid whirring throws a hook to his heightened attention and yanks.

The 2-pointer, which was across the street, turns and barrels toward him on its spindly spider-like legs, jamming the points of its feet into the pavement with each step and kicking up gravel. The ruckus gets the attention of the three 1-pointers, which all whirl and make a beeline for him as well and he curses his luck to the heavens and back. He still has no way to fight four at once; he’s not _that_ good yet. At his current skill level, his Quirk will barely help him dodge this many enemies, let alone actually combat them. He grits his teeth and turns tail, taking off down the street in full-out, shameless retreat.

At least… that was the plan. Until every hair on his arms and neck raises, a shadow falls over the entire street, an echo of heavy machinery and gyrating gears reverberates through the air, and Sasuke finds himself staring at a pair of the most massive tank treads he’s ever seen. He raises his head, drifts his wide eyes across a hulking behemoth of gleaming drab steel, and then meets a set of six red observation ports on the front of a gigantic robotic face.

“Holy s***…” he mutters to no one. Can UA really be serious?

 _This_ is the 0-pointer?

A**holes. They probably think they’re so clever, wasting all the money they get from who knows where on a literal space-waster like this. What’s the point??

The monster doesn’t seem to care that it’s completely superfluous and, instead, begins thundering down the block, straight toward him. Its edges chafe the false storefronts, sending debris and cement dust showering. No way out that direction any more. He glances over his shoulder at his previous, now-out-classed opponents. Four smaller robots closing in on one side, this hulking fiend of science on the other, boxed in on either side by fakey buildings… Well, this sucks.

A window somewhere overhead shatters with a mighty crash and the loudest, most high-pitched battle cry Sasuke’s ever heard in his life. And he’s heard Izuku yell at Bowser, he’s _heard_ high-pitched. Glass comes down in a shower barely precluding the coming storm that is the 0-pointer on its thundering way, and Sasuke has to shield his head with his arms before he can even chance a look upward at the source of the ruckus. With his Quirk still fully active, the moment stretches out, second by second.

It’s the girl. Except, not the same girl. Sure, this person is wearing the same dress, but it’s stretched almost to bursting in a way that makes him want to cringe. She’s grown—in an instant, she’s not the little twerp he’d just abandoned with a handful of stinging accusations for comfort. Instead, she’s a mass of hulking muscle, defined, bulging with sinew and vein, she’s a _beast_. Bigger than Bakugou, bigger than that kid who scolded Izuku during the introduction ceremony. She’s launched herself through the office windows, into the air, sailing to meet the approaching metal giant with a fist drawn back and clenched so tightly, he can see it shaking from here. Her face, still twisted from her ongoing war cry, is locked in a cross between brazen kamikaze-level tenacity and outright uncontrollable terror.

All Sasuke can do is stare, for one brief, dumbstruck second.

Then he remembers he’s either about to be run over, or she’s about to release some serious Hell on this behemoth. He’s in the line of fire either way.

He spins on one foot, comes face to face with the 2-pointer and barely dodges its extending arm by a hair. He spins away, eyes darting for an exit. A quick one. Shelter. Aha—the alley! With another leap and a twist, he back-kicks the 2-pointer across its one-eyed face and then makes a mad dash for it. He dives into the space between the false storefronts, just as he hears the shattering crunch of a beefy fist meeting solid metal. And the world rushes forward again, his Quirk released from its diligence. Everything happens at once.

She’s still screaming at the top of her lungs, and at least two more impacts sound off like gunshots after the first. She must not have been able to take it down in one hit. Still—where the h***had those guts come from? Where had they been when she was running and crying? If this was her Quirk, she could’ve been dominating the game this whole time, so why hadn’t she??

The 0-pointer emits a mournful, drawn-out creak as it begins the long fall down. Truthfully, it only takes a second. The same second it takes for the other four bots to almost make it to the entrance to his sanctuary, a hair’s breadth too slow. Then they’re crushed under a weight of Herculean proportions, and Sasuke’s thrown back several feet from the sheer force of it, along with billowing clouds of dust and small debris whipped up by the displaced energy. He rolls with the momentum, avoiding as much damage as he can, but still landing a few good nicks and scrapes. A dumpster stops his motion with unexpected abruptness, the bang of his head on its side making his ears ring and his face contort more with annoyance than actual pain. He squints against the dust whipping in his face until, all at once, the wind dies. The rumbling stills. The dust clouds settle into silence and, in the wake of awe that follows, a blaring siren and Present Mic’s obnoxious voice alerts all participants that the exam is over.

Through the ashy cloud that’s settled over the city block, Sasuke sees someone stagger into view from the road—or what’s left of it. A small someone. Long pink hair has been whipped into something much less tidy than before, more befitting of the term ‘mane’ now than hair. Ah, so she’s back to normal. Or… mostly. For a long time, she just stands there in the haze, back to where he sits, facing the destruction of her own doing and not even seeming to notice he’s there. She’s breathing heavily, which is to be expected since she screamed all the air out of her lungs.

Then, a frazzled laugh escapes her, like the wobble before a fall off a cliff, and she claps her hands over her mouth to stifle that little bit of madness.

Sasuke smirks to himself. So, she took his words seriously after all. Good.

“If you’d used that quirk from the start, you could’ve been leading the board,” he mutters, and grimaces at the grit of dirt between his teeth, coating his tongue. Gross, and as he spits the grime from his mouth, he feels the fine coat of dust covering him from head to toe. He’ll need a shower so badly after this…

She really must not have known he was there, since she jumps a whole two feet in the air and spins around with enough force she almost falls over. She squints through the cloud and seems to spot him, but she doesn’t come closer. “I… I guess… I’ve just never liked it. My quirk. It’s not… it’s not very elegant.”

 _It’s not pretty._ Oh great, so the whole truth comes out. It’s a self-esteem issue, not a distaste for fighting. The latter, he can scoff at. The former, he doesn’t really have anything to say to. Everybody has these issues, complaints about the power they were born with. Everybody, of course, except for the exceptionally lucky or notoriously narcissistic (both categories into which a certain explosive jack*** fits into, which Sasuke would suppose explains the level of insufferable self-absorption).

“Elegant doesn’t matter here,” Sasuke argues, standing and bothering to attempt to bat away some of the dust caking his clothes. “To make it to Pro, all you need to be is good at mowing down Villains. With a quirk like yours… d***, it’ll be easy.”

And if she remembers this moment, holds on to it, channels it whenever she feels weak, it really will be. People like Sasuke and Izuku have to struggle and fight and grovel for even the barest scraps of attention. By comparison, the world loves Pros with quirks like hers. They’ll eat it up, call her incredible, powerful, worthy. But Bakugo alone proves that no matter how much society seems to wish it were true, a strong quirk and bulls*** attitude does not a Hero make. The trouble for her will be staying humble.

With that thought in mind, he can’t help but blink in surprise as she bows to him from where she stands.

“Thank you for helping me!” she blurts. “With… everything. From now on, I’ll work harder!”

Exactly the right response. A willingness to change. That’s what that is. Adapt. Grow. It’s that humility. And compared to a certain obnoxious dobe, it’s good to see that some people could be trusted to remember it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *reference to the events in [no worries, we still have time](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16228472).


End file.
